Monday, August 29, 2011

Before veteran UFO researcher and author Wendy Connors retired from her work, she searched out and accumulated a wealth of UFO-related audio recordings for her "Faded Discs" project. This enormous, time-consuming task involved listening to hundreds of hours of audio from old TV and radio programs, UFO witness interviews, military accounts and the like, and she carefully converted each reel-to-reel tape, audiocassette, record album, transcription disc, wire recording and whatever other format came her way to digital format, thus preserving deteriorating recorded history for posterity. Sometimes, she literally had to wash the dirt off old recorded media using a special cleaning solution, patience and tender loving care in order to restore clarity.

It was truly my pleasure a few years ago to review some of her copyrighted digital conquests for Errol Bruce-Knapp's informative "UFO Updates" section of the Virtually Strange Network (see link and check out the "UFO Updates" section daily, where current contributor messages update continuously under the "100 latest messages" category in the Archive area), and despite auditioning hours and hours of incredible historical UFO audio for those reviews, I was impressed particularly by one gem, an interview conducted with a man claiming to be a Navy pilot who flew missions for the CIA in the 1970s. Tucked inconspicuously among a host of no less important audio entries, this is pure, apparently authenticated, UFO history gold.

What really strikes one about this particular interview is that the witness had provided personal information to establish his sincerity. Major identifying info was removed, for obvious reasons, long before I was given the opportunity to hear the recording, but based upon other factors its veracity appeared plausible. Having been in the military, I'm more than a little familiar with the term, "military bearing," and the voice on the recording reflected this. Also, for well over a year in the early seventies I operated my own hospital clinic at an Air Force pilot training base and spoke with pilots every day -- remarkable people conditioned to remain calm, cool and rational through almost any threatening situation. The recorded voice I heard remained very much in this vein, though, understandably, immensely curious about the UFO experience.

I'm going to share a transcript of the incident with you today. I've gone on to edit out some conversation having no bearing on the incident itself, but the major portions are here. I did have difficulty hearing some words because tape, even when digitalized, can have limitations due to its age (and my age!), and there remained some minor electrical "hum" caused by original recording equipment and old telephone lines -- so I've indicated spots where words were unclear to me. My transcript is mostly word-by-word accurate, but in some instances I had to choose the best guess (again, little to deter meaning here). If any words appear to contradict others, that's probably due to my inability to get a clear reading of the sound. I'm only human (or reasonably so!).

Of considerable interest -- the pilot's mention of a "sponge rubber" appearance to the object's surface may seem unusual, but the thing is that there were similar descriptions offered by other UFO witnesses -- not many at first, but they were out there. In fact, also from 1977, Wendy's collection included a report where the pilot and co-pilot of a Lear 35 jet encountered a huge object that followed their aircraft for 10 to 15 minutes, and the object's surface looked like "porous foam rubber."

This astounding account would be a nail-biter if featured in a movie script, and just when you might say to yourself, well, it might have involved a secret military device, the pilot's description of radar confirmation will blow rational thought right out of your head. This is creepy, fascinating stuff.

And so follows the incredible account offered by a man introducing himself as a Navy pilot, talented and trusted enough to conduct CIA missions, who literally claims to have just returned from an extraordinary UFO encounter. If he is who he purports to be, and if he is still with us, we might say thank you, Sir, both for your service and for your report, memorialized for the archives instead of disappearing into the dust of time, thanks to the concern and skill of Wendy Connors.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

(The conversation is between the pilot and Robert Gribble, who operated the original National UFO Reporting Center out of Seattle, and occurs in 1977.)

I fly for the CIA. I'm a reconnaissance pilot.and I just came from Tokyo. I just landed about ten minutes ago. At a level 5-1-0 and at about halfway in a straight line between Tokyo and Hawaii, I was about halfway, I'm not sure. I was out of radar contact, just on my own, alone there, but I still had radio contact. I don't know if there was a full moon or not, but it was very bright out there on the ocean, and this thing came up to me. No wings, about double the length of my airplane -- I was flying a Phantom F-411 -- but double the length, which would be about 45 feet, round-shaped, not circular, more triangular, but no bottom and no top. All equidistant sides of a triangle. They weren't sharp, they were sort of rounded-off edges, and the ends of it were flat and no noise, no wings, no thrust, no windows, no, you know, nothing which would give it a reason to fly.

NO APPENDAGES OF ANY KIND?

No, none. On the sides of the Phantom, I don't know if you're familiar with (THE BASE?)) but we do have very high-intensity spotlights which (ARE BUILT INTO?) the fuselage (UNCLEAR) side of an aircraft that are used to, when you are unloading bombs at night at the runway you turn them on so the guys can see (UNCLEAR) with the bombs underneath them. And so I turned on the lights on the sides (AND HAD A VERY CLEAR PICTURE OF IT?)). . .and it was there, it wasn't my imagination.

DID THE LIGHT ACTUALLY REFLECT OFF THIS THING OR ILLUMINATE IT?

It didn't reflect, it was a porous material, probably. It looked like sponge rubber, that's what it looked like. But it was not metallic. It (UNCLEAR), it couldn't be porous. It looked like maybe asphalt would look from a distance, something like that.

I MEAN, WAS THAT LIGHT ACTUALLY ILLUMINATED?

No, It just sort of went ahead and hit it. (UNCLEAR)

HOW CLOSE DID THIS THING GET?

The closest it got was about 70 feet from the wing. Now, I have radar, and it was on radar and the image wasn't like that close, but it got up to about 50 feet from the left wing and then as far as about 200 feet and stayed there for about a half an hour. This was at Mach 2.2, roughly, you know, 1900 miles an hour.

DID YOU SEE THIS AS IT WAS COMING IN TOWARDS YOU?

I didn't see him come up on me, no, I just sort of looked over and it was there, and then I just looked and looked and looked and thought it was a shadow or something, so then I turned on all the lights and then I saw it. It was definitely there. I could see the dimensions, I could see the top and the bottom and the ends of it. The dimensions of the height, I would say, were, oh, I would say about 10 feet -- 10 feet by 10 feet.

WAS THIS THING LAYING FLAT OR WITH THE APEX UP?

It always had the apex up, but it would slowly rotate on the apex and in all the time it was there it started from the apex being up, to the apex completely rotating around and took about 15 minutes to do it. It would move a little bit and stop, move a little bit and stop and move a little bit and stop. It didn't look like that was necessary for flight. I think it was just turning for -- I don't know why but it wasn't necessary for flight, you could tell that.

AND DID IT MAINTAIN THE SAME POSITION IN RELATION TO YOU WHILE IT WAS DOING THIS?

More or less, I would say. But it didn't stay close for very long, it only stayed at 50 feet for about a couple of minutes, and it stayed just out of real good sight most of the time. It sounds like I'm crazy, but they seemed to know what was good sight and what wasn't for me. I have perfect vision, 20/20 and I'm a captain in Naval intelligence by the way, and I've been with the CIA for about two years.

OKAY. DID YOU GET ANY BUFFETING OFF OF THIS?

No, none. No buffeting, no turbulence, nothing.

HOW ABOUT INSTRUMENT INTERFERENCE?

No, perfect.

WERE YOU IN CONTACT WITH ANY GROUND STATIONS FOR A RADAR CHECK?

There is no radar in that area. I tried three times to see if I was in communication with somebody and ask if there was aircraft in my area that was, you know, maybe a little off course and they said no, the closest aircraft was (HE SAYS EITHER 40 OR 400) miles away, they said, and I said are you positive and they said yeah, and there was two radar ships, they were both out of range, and oddly enough, he disappeared right after this guy said I would be in range in about three minutes and about a minute after that this guy pulled away.

DID YOU GET THE IMPRESSION YOU WERE BEING OBSERVED?

I think they were more interested in the airplane than they were in me, but I did have that impression, yeah. I also had the impression that they knew what was going on. I know it sounds a little nutty, but no one else seems to care about it. I've been flying all my life and I know what an airplane is and what it isn't. There's not too many airplanes that can go as fast as that at that altitude, first of all, and 2.2 is pretty fast.

DID YOU HAVE ANY UNUSUAL PHYSICAL OR MENTAL SENSATIONS WHILE ALL OF THIS WAS GOING ON?

No. The only thing that sort of bothered me was that I haven't slept for about 30 hours, but that's not any big deal for me, I've done it a lot before. I was just coming from two other missions and I just hadn't had a chance to sleep and just wanted to get home, so -- I've been flying a long time but I can say I've done that a lot so it was nothing and I've been able to do that before, so. . .

OKAY. AND YOU DEFINITELY SAY THAT THE TEXTURE OF THE SURFACE WAS PITTED?

Yeah, not big holes, but it was rough. It wasn't metallic.

WHAT WAS YOUR ALTITUDE?

Flight level was 5-1-0. I did climb a little bit to see what sort of, I was curious, I climbed to 60,000 feet and almost instantly(UNCLEAR). . .are you a pilot?

NO SIR.

Well, that plane can climb very fast, one of the best planes we have. The actual (UNCLEAR) is classified, but anyway I gave it full power and put the nose up (AT ??? FEET?), and there's only maybe eight or ten other aircraft in the whole world that can keep up with that -- and this thing kept up with no strain at all. It made no effort at all to get right next to me. He started to move almost instantly when I did (AND I DON'T KNOW WHAT?)) allowed him to do that.

IT MOVED RIGHT ALONG WITH YOU?

Yeah, no problem at all. When he left me, I (UNCLEAR) stayed there for a little while and put into a dive to see if I could outrun him, and from 50,000 feet to about 49 I kept up to about three point something Mach, which is really moving and he stayed right up with me with no problem at all. And then the guy said, well, you'll be within radar range within about three or four minutes -- and about a minute after that he pulled away from me, going forward at at least triple the speed with no effort at all, I mean with no acceleration. He was just there and then he was a speck and then he was gone at the same altitude.

DO YOU REMEMBER THE TIME ON THAT?

Well, this was about, I'd say, 12 hours ago, no, about ten hours ago.

HOW LONG DID THAT WHOLE EVENT TAKE PLACE?

I'd say all together about a half an hour -- 20 minutes or a half an hour. I did get the time but the time was Korean time. I can't remember whether I . . .it would be an hour off if I gave you that time. It was just, I can't remember if it was four a.m. or four p.m., it was one or the other in Korean time. I can't remember if I reset the clock or not after I left Korea.

OKAY.

But the main thing I want to tell you is that this thing had no. . .you know, I can sort of tell if an aircraft is really working to keep up with you speed-wise and it sort of has characteristics. But this had no effort at all keeping up with me. There was no lag. They could accelerate easily as fast as they want to, go up and down as fast as they want to. It defied all the laws of aerodynamics. There was no reason for it to fly.

OKAY. WHEN THIS THING PULLED AWAY FROM YOU WAS IT AT HIGH SPEED?

Yeah, it was next to me and within 10 seconds it was a speck on the radar. The radar screen I have has about a 150 mile range. I could (UNCLEAR) it exactly. It took it less than 10 seconds to get out of radar range, less than 10 seconds to go 150 miles. I saw it going across the radar range. On the radar there is three modes. There is 150 miles, there is 250 miles and 500 miles. So to see it on the 500 mile range I upped the range from 150 to 500, and in the time it took me to flip the switch was another three seconds, and he had already gone past the 500 mile range. It wasn't on the radar anymore, which means it had already gone through that other range. You can imagine a circle, a 500 mile circle around you, that's what it's like. We have intelligence radar which is the best you can get. You can pick up a skydiver (SAID EITHER 40 OR 400) miles away, a free-falling skydiver will pick up on radar.

DID THIS THING LEAVE ANY TRAIL ONCE IT TOOK OFF?

No. We have a (HAWKEYE?) heat-sensing missile and the heat sensing missile has a computer which can track the exhaust of a jet. The exhaust of a jet stays in the sky the same way the wake from the water stays in the water, and you can track it the same way. Well, that computer was on, too, and there was no thrust, no heat, no energy coming from it. This thing will sense heat up to 20 miles away at altitude and there was no heat coming out of it, and that's very sensitive also. You can start up a gasoline engine in a car 20 miles away from this thing and turn on the missile, and it will find the heat and then blow it up. That's how accurate it is.

DID YOU GET A GOOD, SOLID RETURN ON YOUR RADAR?

Perfect, yeah. I don't know if it will help any to tell you this, but the people at Approach Control in the Navy, they didn't seem to care. I wanted to speed up and get around him, too, to see what the other side of this thing looked like, but I could not outrun him, he could slow down and speed up as fast as I could. A Phantom can go from 2.2 Mach to 50 miles an hour in about 10 seconds, that's how fast and you couldn't slow down if you wanted to, and I tried that and he was still just as fast. There are very few airplanes that can keep up with a Phantom. There's no Russian airplane that can. So either it's one of ours or it's someone else and, like I said, there's no reason for it to fly and had no energy coming out of it, no heat, no power source, nothing.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

(As I prepare to post this, I must note the passing of the great Budd Hopkins, UFO abduction investigator of exception. I don't believe I was ever in contact with him, but certainly knew him from his books and articles. Yes, there was controversy surrounding him, but what hands-on person who dares to present established society with things its members may not wish to know hasn't been confronted with controversy? Leslie Kean wrote a brief but appropriate tribute to Budd, and this may be read by clicking on the link to Budd Hopkins' Intruders Foundation in the margin.)

As many of you know, I write a separate blog (see link in the margin) concerned specifically with the 1956 United Artists documentary motion picture, "U.F.O."

In 1970, Great Britain began producing a science fiction TV series, also entitled "UFO." In fact, in 1973, by then familiar with the series, as it was running on American television stations, I wrote a letter to TV Guide, published, in which I excoriated the series. Imagine my amazement 29 years later when intrepid Canadian journalist Mark Phillips tracked me down like hunters' prey to inquire about my opinion, which had mellowed somewhat over the years. His excellent article reminiscing about the TV series appeared in issue No. 154 of England's TV Zone magazine, and he included a few paragraphs regarding my now-vs.-then views on the series. Must be true, we can run but we can't hide, particularly when members of the press come calling.

However. . .

Next year, another aliens-among-us science fiction story entitled "UFO" hits the big screen. Yes, my eyes are already rolling around in my head as I contemplate the e-mails I'll receive from careless observers poised to believe my movie tribute site relates somehow to the anticipated 2012 release. After all, my film address is ufothemovie.blogspot.com.

I've already contemplated, for those among the confused who write and ask simply if the movie "UFO" is a true story, that perhaps I should merely respond, "yes" in all cases. That should send a few of them, unaware that I'm referencing only the 1956 documentary, running in terror for the hills.

(Robbie Graham of Silver Screen Saucers -- see link -- will undoubtedly offer further information on the upcoming motion picture as it becomes available.)

WE'LL FREE YA WITH SHARIA: When my President is happy, I guess I'm happy, too. Mr. Obama seems thrilled about the "Arab spring" unveiled every time a Middle Eastern country dominated by obvious thugs falls. I do find it a bid odd, however, that the "rebels" who facilitate the action (with our help, either overtly or covertly in many cases, I'm sure) jump right in there with a "new" constitution without fail. For Libya, it's apparently Sharia Law, and for Egypt and other states Sharia seems the choice of biological throwbacks intent upon maintaining brutal order, depriving women of education whilst keeping them covered and treated like farm animals, and all the other goodies that come with this extremist view of Islam. Where is the National Organization of Women on this issue? Where are the major news entities? Repeatedly, we're told what a great thing the "Arab spring" is, and every time the spring is sprung we witness more threats against the very existence of Israel. What happened to diplomacy? Diplomacy doesn't work very well with "new states" of cutthroat thugs who teach their young men to become more of the same.

As I write this, a news story reports that the United Nations is upset that the U.S. doesn't do more to prevent domestic violence against women. What are we supposed to do when a woman or man chooses a partner unwisely? The consequences are my fault? And how dare the United Nations blame this country when they don't give a rat's about violence against women in the Middle East? If one wishes to find a gaggle of thugs anywhere on this planet, one needn't look any further than a preponderance of vermin populating the United Nations any day of the week.

In the meantime, the President and Congress vacation as the world nukes itself and our country's drought of water, common sense and brains continues.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Yeah, maybe I was naive, thinking the world would self-correct while I left the blog for a few days (though I did check in to say a few words about the death of the remarkable William R. Corliss -- see previous blog).

Another significant death, for me, occurred a few days ago. Dan and I had served together in a Texas Air Force hospital over 40 years ago and, as usually occurs after the brevity of military relationships, we moved on and lost contact with one another. To my surprise, however, Dan found my blogs three years ago and we began e-mailing and having occasional phone conversations, he having remarried, living way out West. Unfortunately, all was not well, as he was about to embark upon a cascade of surgical interventions because of multiple brain tumors and lung cancer. He stayed tough, overcoming numerous surgical challenges, but eventually a fatal malignancy claimed his life.

Strange how long-forgotten memories resurface when somebody from our past meets their demise. Early one evening after USAF hospital duty hours in 1969 he took me to a Texas dirt-bike range, where my hands-on experience reminded me that you don't have to be a kid to appreciate the wonders of dust and mud. And there was that pleasant weekend with Dan and his (first) wife at his in-laws' beautiful lake house in Possum Kingdom (you may have heard about Possum Kingdom, which was all but destroyed by this spring's raging firestorms), particularly memorable for a little incident where my eyeglasses fell off while I was swimming (yep, dove underwater and miraculously found 'em within minutes). Who is foolish enough to wear unsecured eyeglasses while swimming?

Meanwhile, the world burns on. Change you can believe in. Al Gore recently made a speech riddled with obscenities and frustration -- evident in his presentation, perhaps, because the truth is that there is no "consensus" among a majority of world scientists that climate change is primarily man-made. In fact, some scientists in the know blame current heat wave and drought conditions in the U.S. and elsewhere on reactivation of intense solar activity. Yes, our old nemesis, the sun. Love it or hate it, it isn't going away anytime soon. The International BusinessTimes, quoting the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, outlined potential chaos bluntly last week:

"The NOAA predicted four “extreme” solar emissions which could threaten the
planet this decade. Similarly, NASA warned that a peak in the sun's magnetic
energy cycle and the number of sun spots or flares around 2013 could enable
extremely high radiation levels.

"This is a special problem in the United States and especially a severe threat in
the eastern United States as Federal Government studies revealed that this
extreme solar activity and emissions may result in complete blackouts for years
in several areas of the nation. Moreover, there may also be disruption of power
supply for years, or even decades, as geomagnetic currents attracted by the
storm could debilitate the transformers."

Not to mention possible satellite disruptions and lasting damage with obviously frightening military implications. Digital denizens of the world, unable to function without a cache of electronic gadgets substituted for book knowledge and common sense, may well collapse under an avalanche of daily living's undecipherable necessities. Geek extinction, accomplished in total silence, with no fossilized evidence of human computer enthusiasts left for alien explorers of the far future. (You geeks do realize, don't you, that one of the dictionary definitions of "geek" is a carnival performer who does what are said to be "disgusting" acts?)

Then this from the Los Angeles Times of August 6: That the U.S. government -- the spooky D.A.R.P.A. specifically -- plans to award up to $500,000 to a research team best able to develop solid, shovel-ready methods to initiate interstellar space flight 100 years from now. Essentially, a new physics or way of organizing a journey to another star system is called for, not necessarily a physical vehicle. Something like mixing the ingredients for cookies without actually having the ability to bake them, near as I can figure.

On top of this comes word that actress Jodie Foster and other concerned members of the citizenry have successfully donated big dollars to keep S.E.T.I. running. Well, at least somebody can depend on keeping their jobs, as they search for evidence of alien intelligence, probably in all the wrong places (they mighta' tried earth-based UFO incidents first).

I hope the government/D.A.R.P.A. project takes into consideration UFO propulsion theories proposed or embraced by former NASA scientific and engineering associates such as Alan Holt and the late Paul R. Hill, both of whom wrote books espousing their ideas (Hill, in his book, Unconventional Flying Objects: A Scientific Analysis, rightfully corrected one of my basic assumptions regarding a conductive medium in my 1971 A.P.R.O. Bulletin article which asked, could UFOs employ ultrasound technology?). Even the borderline has two sides.

Regarding the subject of UFOs, incidentally, if you've tired of all the nonsense and have an acquired taste for documentation -- and have a little reading time on your hands -- don't fail to check out researcher Thomas Tulien's massively detailed and illustrated Web site regarding the Minot Air Force Base UFO Case of October 24, 1968. Representing the Sign Oral History Project, Tulien's in-depth detective work and (his specialty) interviews with key participants will keep your head spinning for hours. Go to: http://www.minotb52ufo.com to examine some outstanding work.

But yes, the world burns. I think back upon President Ronald Reagan's statements (and actually those of some UFO researchers of note) expressing that the planet's peoples would unite if faced with an attack from extraterrestrials. Ha! Frankly, the world's political leaders and the United Nations' abundance of thugs would go right on squabbling over other matters. Didn't anybody learn anything from the Nazis as they waltzed into country after country?

Which, by the way, seems to be happening all over again in the Middle East, as Israel is increasingly threatened from all sides, helped along by the profound influence of Iran's crazies. Neither the Palestinians, Russia, China nor a box-load of other nations are our friends, and since our only true ally in the Middle East is Israel, we must choose sides and Israel absolutely deserves U.S. support as things become uglier every week.

The U.S. just gave 100 million dollars to Africa to help combat famine. That's nice -- but where did the money come from? Did we print more cash out of thin air or did we put it on our eternal hellfire tab with the Chinese? How about 25 million of it dedicated to intensive birth control, family planning education and a good old-fashioned butt-kicking to all the young men who think it's just fantastic to make starving babies by the score as they beat their women into submission (whilst all the time, of course, international religious "relief" organizations fly in like vultures to dissuade anything even resembling birth control). Lucky if even a small portion of the food gets beyond radical Muslims, who feed themselves to fight and kill us another day. Kindly we Americans are, but we're sometimes a bunch of damned fools.

Oh -- can't forget the Tea Party. . .as an Independent voter, I've no love affair with Republicans or Democrats, though I am quite liberal on several issues and conservative on others. Yet, I've grown to admire from afar the Tea Party simply because the major, grotesquely corpulent and entrenched political parties h-a-t-e them so much, and their members often do make sense (their views are distorted by the press, no surprise there). The major clunker for me is the re-emergence of the Religious Right, and harkening back to previous elections I recall warnings to Republicans by their own party members not to let these folks dominate the issues. But they're back in force and that's a worry for me.

If anybody thinks all of this will ultimately lead to UFO "disclosure," forget that dream.

And now a word about our current leadership. As I've stated previously, I once wrote Mr. Obama and encouraged him to run for president because I liked his speech before the Democratic National Convention a few years back. However, once he actively began campaigning and I listened more closely to his ideas, I felt like slapping myself silly. Yes, yes, I looked forward to having the first black U.S. president -- the first, not the worst! I wish we could convince Florida Congressman Allen West to make a run for the White House: He seems a no-nonsense gentleman with leadership and military experience, hardly the sort to be running all over the world, apologizing for our country or community-organizing its Constitution to please nations which will always despise our government, no matter what.

The current White House occupants' method-acting seems best suited for the issuance of royal decree via Executive Order and for the influence of pipsqueaks in the background, turning out regulation after regulation. "Obama-care" ranks high amongst the absurdities, when common sense tells us it would have been far cheaper for businesses and individuals simply --yes, simply -- to allow the thousands of insurance companies in this country to compete for customers across state lines. Health insurance costs would be forced into significant decline and federal government intervention would be unnecessary.

And (my message to members of the Right who hug giant industry too closely) I get really rattled when conglomerates are allowed to market hybrid seeds to the exclusion of the original natural ones, with legal consequences for farmers who prefer to do things their own way, but find their crops contaminated with the patented variety churned out by corporate monsters.

Not to leave Congress out of this mess. Too many vampires and mummies in both the House and Senate who made a career out of staying put for years, progressively relating less and less to their constituents. Oh, term limits for all -- if only. . .

Pakistan? Afghanistan? Iraq? Intelligence analysts seem to agree that China, Russia, North Korea and numerous rogue states conspire to continue nickel-and-diming the U.S. military to drain its resources.. Either get our military people out of this mess or bomb both the daylights and night lights out of every area that even looks suspicious -- and then hope we have leaders with the courage to dispatch enough personnel to keep our own borders protected and not poised to blame border patrol agents for doing their job.

I'm telling ya, old Robert's getting pretty tired of university intellectuals who have little in common with the common man or woman, running our lives to the max with their nutty self-serving theories, regulations and favors based upon financial political contributions. Godzilla himself couldn't do a better job of screwing up this country over what we currently suffer through.

About Me

Unless otherwise noted, all entries are property of Robert Barrow, to be reprinted only with my permission, please. To CONTACT me via e-mail please address your note to me as follows: TYPE rob_wildwinds AND THEN TYPE @yahoo.com